But Kenteris, the Olympic 200 metres champion in Sydney, and Katerina Thanou, who won the 100m silver medal at the same Games, emerged from the Greek federation hearing still hoping that they would be cleared of doping violations.

Both sprinters and their former coach, Christos Tzekos, testified at the two-day hearing, where the athletes were charged with avoiding drug tests in Tel Aviv, Chicago and Athens and failing to notify anti-doping officials of their whereabouts before the Olympics.

The pair spent four days in a hospital, claiming they were injured in a motorcycle crash, and it was the International Olympic Committee's demand that the International Association of Athletics Federations investigate the affair that led to the Greek hearing.

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Gregory Ioannides, the British-based lawyer and lecturer at the University of Buckingham, said he was confident that the athlete would beat the charges.

Ioannides said: "We accepted that Kenteris missed the test in Tel Aviv when he was represented by another lawyer. The IAAF notified him but he failed to respond within the set 21-day period so had no choice but to accept that. But we do not accept that he avoided tests in Chicago and Athens."